1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure is generally directed to hair styling accessories and styling aids, and more particularly to a hairstyling accessory that aids in creating and holding a ponytail hairstyle with the appearance of having more volume.
2. Description of Related Art
A ponytail is a known and very popular hairstyle. A person's hair is pulled away from the face, then gathered together and secured in a bundle at the middle behind their head. A simple tie, clip, or rubber band is often used to secure the hair in a pony tail style. The ponytail style can be altered by gathering the hair offset to one side or the other of the person's head instead of in the middle at the back of their head. The ponytail can be flipped upwards or the focal point of the pony tail can be positioned higher or lower on the person's head to alter the direction in which the hair projects from the person's head. One problem with a ponytail hairstyle, particularly when flipped upwards or located high on the back of the person's head, is that medium, fine or thinning hair can appear sparse instead of full and thick or voluminous.
Hairstyles as seen at red carpet events, on fashion runways, and in fashion magazines may indicate that an enhanced volume hairstyle is becoming a trend. Others have tried to develop hairstyles or styling accessories or products that make a person's hair appear to have more volume than it actually has. These methods and products have met with varying degrees of success.
One hair accessory is known as “The Puffy Pony®” and has been commercialized by a company called Mia Hair Accessories. The Puffy Pony product is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,017,589. The '589 patent discloses a method of installing a hair accessory to enhance the volume or appearance of volume of a ponytail. In the '589 patent, the product has an elastic band and a comb. The elastic band is separate from the comb and is applied to a person's hair before the comb is placed in their hair.
In another example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,013,900 discloses a hair comb for placement in a person's hair to secure the hair. A number of embodiments are disclosed in the '900 patent that utilize a secondary holder to then capture hair to be styled between the comb and the secondary holder. The secondary holders include various examples of bands that are attached to the comb and that can stretch over hair and then connect to another part of the comb. In another example, the secondary holder is a plastic or flexible “arm” on the comb that captures hair between the arm and comb and then hooks onto another part of the comb to hold the hair. The comb, when placed and secured, is said to increase the volume of the hair in the style created. One problem with the accessories disclosed in the '900 patent is that they can slide through hair and thus do not easily stay in place. Another problem is that the accessories of the '900 patent do not securely contain or hold the hair.